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Newark, NJ--The Beth Challenge, a successful weight
loss and fitness program that has helped hundreds of employees
at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBIMC) and Children’s
Hospital of New Jersey to lose over 3,800 pounds, has been embraced
by two Newark area churches. Three hundred members of Clear View
Baptist Church and Philemon Baptist Church in Newark have joined
The Beth Challenge, a 12-week contest with a similar design to
the popular television show, "The Biggest Loser.”
The program, created by Barbara Mintz, MS, RD, Clinical Nutrition
Manager at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, was designed to address
individual health and fitness goals and to add fun to the sometimes
arduous process of weight loss.
“We held this program at Clearview Baptist Church in the
summer and 30 percent of the more than 125 participants lost weight,” reports
Ms. Mintz. “The congregants are anxious to start another
round in 2010 and continue their successful efforts toward better
health.”
Ms. Mintz reports that the population in the Newark area, as in
many underserved communities, is greatly in need of low cost wellness
programs and nutrition education. Often the costs associated with
nutritious food, the lack of safe places to exercise as well as
education on how to eat in a healthier manner preclude many families
from attaining a healthier lifestyle.
“The means to health and wellness and disease prevention
is so desired and needed by this population,” she says. “We
want people to understand that the way they eat and how active
they are can influence their long-term health. Sharing this education
is really my passion as a nutritionist.”
Each participant sets personal health and fitness goals and has
12 weeks to complete the challenge. Participants can enter as a
group or individually. Contest winners are based on greatest percentage
of weight loss for individual and/or group. Other goals for the
contest can range from weight loss, reduction in BMI, body fat,
or reduction in blood pressure, cholesterol. The two churches
involved are now actually competing against each other and the
participation is now close to 250 congregants. Other churches
in the Newark area have expressed interest in joining and will
be included in the next round.
Contestants are provided with nutrition education and exercise
programs tailored to their needs. Contestants are required to weigh
in weekly for the length of the contest.
Newark-based Colosseum Gym and owner Vincent
Laracca have partnered with The Beth Challenge to provide participating
church members with a free 12-week membership. Contest winners
are awarded a free year’s membership to Colosseum
Gym.
And each contestant is a winner in the goal of improved
health.
“Once they gain an awareness of what they are eating,
and start to feel better through exercise and a healthy, they
become hooked,” says Ms. Mintz. “It’s
how people change their lifestyle”.
For more information, please call Barbara Mintz at 973-926-2663.
For More Information
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, a 673-bed regional care teaching
hospital, provides comprehensive health care to its local communities
and is a major referral and treatment center for the northern New
Jersey metropolitan area. With more than 800 physicians, 3,200
employees and 150 volunteers, the Medical Center has over 300,000
outpatient visits and 25,000 admissions annually. The
main phone number for Newark Beth Israel Medical Center,
located at 201 Lyons Avenue at Osborne Terrace in Newark, is (973)
926-7000, or visit www.barnabashealth.org. For physician referral
information, please call 1-888-724-7123. Follow us on Twitter:
get real time news from the Saint Barnabas Health Care System at www.twitter.com/barnabas_health .
Date: February 1, 2010
Contact: Beth Salamon
Public Relations
Phone: 973.322.4926
esalamon@barnabashealth.org
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